As a web developer, I occasionally get feedback from clients that their website is “broken”. Usually, the client is using Internet Explorer 6 (or one case of the old AOL browser). Consequently, I’ve had to go out of my way, adding css hacks or html commenting hacks to make the code fit for IE6. Many feelings of rage have passed through my heart as I’ve dealt with IE6 problems. Fortunately, to my great relief, my employer has decided to leave IE6 off of our UI testing list.
As of today, I’m joining the “Bring down IE6” coup. IE6 is a poor excuse for a browser.
In order to help IE6 users to appreciate better browsers use code like this:
<!–[if lt IE 7]>
<div id=”ie6Warning”>
<h2>Time to upgrade your browser</h2>
<p>If you’re reading this, you’re surfing using Internet Explorer 6, an eight-year-old browser that cannot cope with the demands of the modern internet. For the best web experience, we strongly recommend upgrading to <a href=”http://www.getfirefox.com/”>Firefox</a>, <a href=”http://www.opera.com/”>Opera</a>, <a href=”http://www.apple.com/safari/”>Safari</a>, <a href=”http://www.google.com/chrome”>Google Chrome</a>, or a more recent version of <a href=”http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/ie/getitnow.mspx”>Internet Explorer</a>.</p>
</div>
<![endif]–>
The Edge of Darkness, a gripping film starring Mel Gibson, uses a multi-genre oriented approach in its trailer. Although I’ve not seen the film, the trailer entertains my interest by sucking me into three separate genres using many attempts at iconography, repetition, equations and hyperbole. Whether or not the actual film meets these different genres is not involved in the discussion. What’s of interest is how the trailer makes these genre statements and why they chose to define the movie through the rhetoric of genre.
In the first 30 seconds of the trailer, we may assume that this is a drama. We see a father reminiscing his years of rearing his daughter and then she returns from her grown up life for a visit. We suspect that this film will be about the relationship between the parent and child. The music and imagery reflect the iconography of a complex/endearing drama specifically about relationships. As Lisa Kernan stated in Trailer Rhetoric, we see an assertion of “an equation … between the spectator’s experience and the characters’ experiences.”
The headlines appear, “Some memories never fade” and “Some feelings never change” further defining the film with generalization—using emotion as a major feature of a drama. However, in a few one-second shots, the trailer quickly modifies its rhetoric towards a detective genre. The father, played by Mel Gibson is suddenly thrown into a crime investigation for the shooting of his daughter. Again, icons of the classic detective genre are shown with a close-up shot of an officer’s gun holster and a crowd of police cars surrounding the home of the crime scene.
However, as the trailer proceeds, the film offsets itself from the classic detective genre and into the likes of a riveting thriller as is noted also by the title of the film, Edge of Darkness. Headlines “Some secrets … take us to the edge” appears and we are whisked away into continuous shots of conspiracy conversations, dark alley scenes, and violent, close calls with death. The headlines change color to red, apart from the earlier drama-oriented blue headlines. We also see flashed images of the daughter with an eerie likeness to the trailers of horror films such as The Forgotten, and The Others. Frequent uses of a blacked screen utilize repetition and emphasize darkness in its physical and psychological manifestations.
The trailer clearly makes a stab using rhetoric to categorize the film into the three genres: drama, detective mystery, and horror. Perhaps the producers were trying to market the film to three separate and segmented audiences. But this generalization into genres allows for a deeper analysis. Historically, these genres have been widely used and perpetuated by Hollywood and millions of movie-goers. While the technology and style of movie trailers has become more sophisticated, we can still connect dots of genre rhetoric.
Conversely, in its very effort to invoke three different genres, the film differentiates itself from any one of those genres. Although the thriller aspect of the film is most ingrained in our minds, we are jarred by the quick transition from one genre to the next. Although the trailer connected the “genre-dots” it still did not take the genre stand—and in doing so, hoped to stand out and differentiate itself.
Movie Poster for Song of the South
Our lovable animated friend, Brer Rabbit, was quite perplexed with a lifeless tar baby that didn’t offer greetings one morning. “Well, suh, dar he was, sittin’ in de middle o’ de road — jes’ like you’s sittin’ in dat chair — only he’s all mixt up wid dat tar baby …” (songofthesouth.net). The tale goes that Brer Rabbit decided to give the “tar baby” a big whack for his apparent rudeness. Not knowing this was a “tar” baby, Brer Rabbit soon found himself covered in tar and unable to move. The controversial issue of racism in the film industry today has led us Americans into a predicament much like Brer Rabbit, in which we have become so entangled in “political correctness” that we restrict our own progress. This level of racial awareness has greatly increased from the day that Brer Rabbit was first animated in Walt Disney’s infamous Song of the South.
Was Walt Disney racist? There is little documentation of Walt Disney’s personal feelings about racism. We do know that he was an entrepreneur and an artist. He had a deep imagination and courage to bring that imagination to life. As the founder and king of animation he started a corporation that stands as one of the largest entertainment businesses of the world. Out of all these characteristics mentioned, Disney’s greatest attribute was his deep optimism. This optimism is what led him to bring such a dream to real life. Disney had a $17 million debt and huge amount of criticism from faithless onlookers when he built Disneyland in 1955. It was his optimism that kept the company moving. His optimism is felt in the animated films he produced. They bear an overly simplified “happily ever after” feel that gives audiences a break from the real world.
In his early years, Disney’s animations were most enticing to children. Take for example, Snow White, Pinnochio, and Dumbo; each of these films contains a certain amount of joyful innocence. It is a danger to over-analyze children’s animated films, for they were not meant to receive such “adult” criticism. Likewise, it is also a danger to under-analyze children’s films for they are often created with deeper morals in store—morals difficult for children to grasp. This paper seeks to give a proper analysis of Walt Disney’s Song of the South. The film is famous for its revolutionary step into multi-racial media. More specifically, it was a film that offered another perspective of the African American. The debate over the film is considered by one scholar, “the best documented occurrence of public resistance to racism in animated film” (Cohen, 2004, p. 60). In providing this analysis, we shall be able to unmask the creator of magic—Disney himself, and more clearly form our own personal opinions about the film and its supposed racial stereotyping.
Douglas Brode claims Disney was an African American at heart (2005, pp. 54-57). In his book, Brode compares Walt Disney to a prominent black character, “Uncle Remus,” in the film Song of the South. Remus tells the laughable stories of Brer Rabbit and his crazy adventures on the Southern frontier. Brode says, “Uncle Remus is Disney” (2005, p. 57), owing to the characters desire to tell fanciful stories and his early life of obscurity.
Disney’s first famous toon—Mickey Mouse—was actually the first black animated figure according to Brode (2005, pp. 50-51). About Mickey’s appearance, Brode said, “The white area running from just above his eyes to slightly below his mouth appears masklike, as if the character has adopted this guise in order to ‘pass’ and survive in the Anglo world of his time.” The infamous Steamboat Willie depicts Mickey piloting an old steamboat through the Deep South. In subsequent films, Mickey “performs ragtime for a white audience,” and he “dares enter a suburban neighborhood, bringing soulful music with him, improving the lifestyle immensely” (Brode, 2005, p. 51). These movements invoke a cultural awareness in Walt Disney. He apparently enjoyed the culture of the great Jazz age that had erupted in the black American world of the early 1900’s.
Despite these obvious applications of culturally aware art, Disney was objective about Mickey:
All we ever intended for him or expected of him was that he should continue to make people everywhere chuckle with him and at him. We didn’t burden him with any social symbolism, we made him no mouthpiece for frustrations or harsh satire. Mickey was simply a little personality assigned to the purposes of laughter (WDWmagic.com).
Just like his statement on Mickey, Disney was also a bystander about racism in the films he created. We must realize that he was an entertainer, not a political cartoonist.
Walt Disney was the innovator of childhood imagination. He understood the importance of education and its role in imagination. He made it a pleasure to learn. Disney played off many famous fairy/folk tales that promoted good morals. He used history and culture to broaden the American view. His greatest creation—Disneyland—lets visitors sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln, enjoy a ride on an old steamboat and learn about technology of the future. Song of the South takes visitors to the late 1800’s in the American South. This film along with others that Walt Disney created, show diversity and partial reality, and still involves the animator’s perspective and the audience’s imagination.
To begin to analyze a work for racial stereotyping, we must first define what it means to stereotype a race. Typically “stereotyping” has negative connotations. It requires the act of attaching certain characteristics to a particular group of people—in Song of the South, that group is the Negro. Stereotypes have truth built in them. For instance, white folk generally have light tan or “peach” colored skin, whereas African Americans have darker colored skin. Is it wrong to apply the stereotype in this example? Most—white and black people—would agree on these assumptions. It may be dangerous to apply the conditions in a stereotype to every member of its particular group. An example of a negative stereotype purports that all Americans are prideful and ignorant when touring foreign countries. True, there have probably been many cases of prideful American tourists; however, to make that assumption about all Americans is obviously an ignorant statement itself. We can be easily offended by such stereotypes because they are either false or negative reflections of the truth.
Only in the last half of the 20th century have people become increasingly sensitive to the any form of political incorrectness. The way an animator depicts a black man as being “less educated” or a Native American as an “injun” may cause turmoil. It is very offensive when the depiction is one that points at the viewer’s race. When this occurs, we as Americans tend to think the animator meant to label all people of that particular race in that fashion. However, that is not always the case.
Early animations depicting blacks are highly offensive to most people. They portray blacks with white handprints, excessively large lips and noses, and a skin that is completely coal black. Clearly these representations are over-exaggerated. Warner Brothers and Universal Pictures have employed these caricatures in many early films of the 1900’s. These representations can also be found in some of the early Disney works but are not as prevalent. Disney created many productions that used animals as the main characters rather than humans thus enabling him to avoid racial imagery. Song of the South employed a mix of live African American actors and personified, animated animals.
Because of the fear of a racially aware America, the Walt Disney Corporation has never released Song of the South on video. The film is a direct portrayal of a Southern Plantation with an African-American community that “camps” nearby (Miller & Rode, 1995, p. 89). The young white boy, Johnny, who lives on the plantation, becomes distraught after the separation of his parents. He decides to run away but as he passes by a camp of blacks telling stories around a campfire, he becomes captivated by the storyteller, “Uncle Remus.” Coincidentally, Remus tells the story of Brer Rabbit who also tried to run away. Later in the film Johnny becomes friends with Uncle Remus and learns life lessons from the fanciful tales of Brer Rabbit. Johnny’s mother, on the other hand, sees a negative influence in the stories and forbids Remus from communicating with her son. Consequently, Johnny’s white mother partially plays the role of the opponent in the plot.
The film was strongly attacked at its premiere in 1946. African American protesters were mainly concerned with the film’s portrayal of the black man as a slave. The NAACP commented on the film: “Making the use of beautiful Uncle Remus folklore, ‘Song of the South’ unfortunately gives the impression of an idyllic master-slave relationship, which is a distortion of the facts” (Cohen, 2004, pp. 60-61). Viewing the ugliness of slavery, many of the racially sensitive deny it ever existed in American history. The word “slavery” has always been a very sensitive topic among both whites and blacks possibly because slavery is inherently a part of our country’s heritage. We do not embrace it, but we do not forget it—there are lessons to be learned from it. Disney Corporation claimed the film’s setting was after the civil war in 1867, when slavery was banned by the Constitution.
Bosley Crowther from the New York Times attacked Song of the South for glamorizing the role of the black “Negroes bowing and scraping and singing spirituals in the night that one might almost imagine that you figure Abe Lincoln made a mistake” (Cohen, 2004, p. 60). According to Crowther the film exemplified a slave-master relationship, showing an optimistic black community in good obedience and humility towards the whites. This notion is again flawed, for to be historically correct the movie is a closer portrayal of a late 1800’s South. Sad history reveals that the freed slaves after the Civil war were still in a state of oppression because of Jim Crowe laws and raw prejudice. Jay Mandle claimed this point simply in the title of his book, Not Slave, Not Free: African American Economic Experience Since the Civil War. In the book he reveals the unfortunate predicament of the freed slaves after the Civil War—that they simply became underpaid sharecroppers with no hope for real financial progression. “Even the post-war period was no Disneyland for former slaves,” says Merlin Jones of savedisney.com (songofthesouth.net). Even after this lengthy support, the main character, “Uncle Remus” does display certain independence. Brode mentions that the film portrays Remus “as a typical Disney hero who understands authority must, when proven wrong, be challenged” (2005, p. 57). Remus also values the importance of living close to the earth. The film showed the loving warmth of Remus’s cabin in contrast to the lifeless plantation home (Brode, 2005, p. 54). Remus longingly reminisces in older days when he begins telling a story to Johnny: “De critters, dey was closer to de folks an’ de folks, dey was closer to de critters” (songofthesouth.net).
On another note, seeing Remus’s language, we can understand how critics have always attacked the film for stereotyping the Negro dialogue. This is undeniable. The script was produced and revised by Anglos which is unfortunate for the reputation of the film. However, this error does little to degrade the intelligence and character of Remus and even more largely, the African American race. Remus is “Rousseau’s natural man, that philosopher’s best man” (Brode, 2005, p. 54). His good service towards Johnny coupled with his application and teaching of morals through his stories reflects the real man within Remus—making him the most noble and wise character of the film.
After analyzing the supposed African American stereotypes, we may look at the intentions of Walt Disney concerning the racist content. Walt Disney said, “The first books I ever read were the Uncle Remus stories. Ever since then, these stories have been my special favorites. I’ve just been waiting until I could develop the proper medium to bring them to the screen” (songofthesouth.net). The original stories of Uncle Remus, written by Joel Chandler Harris (a southern white author), contained deep stereotyping. Disney did have some idea that the content in Song of the South would be deemed racial stereotyping by certain groups. With this oversight, he hired a highly liberal—although white—screenwriter, Maurice Rapf, to revise the script for the film (Cohen, 2004, p. 62). “It would be wrong to conclude… that Walt Disney was a racist. Maurice Rapf points out that everybody at the studio was uneducated concerning what was racist material” (Cohen, 2004, p. 69).
The film is a beautiful work that revolutionized technological animation and racial diversity in film, yet it continues to collect dust in the Disney vault with little to no hope for release. James Baskett (Uncle Remus), was the first actor Walt Disney ever hired (songofthesouth.net). The film makes out to be an effective portrayal of social equality when contrasted with the prejudices of 1946 when the film was released. At the premiere in Atlanta, Baskett was denied lodging in the city’s Hotels for they were reserved for “white only” (Miller & Rode, 1995, p. 86). Baskett was highly talented and went on to win an honorary Academy Award for his role as Remus. He was denounced by a number of blacks after the Premiere but he now stands in deep remembrance as the lovable voice who sang, “Zip A Dee Do Dah” (songofthesouth.net).
Referring back to the definition of stereotyping, Chris Willis, the founder of songofthesouth.net, made a profound statement: “Most innocent stereotypes are based upon the common denominator of reality” (songofthesouth.net). Indeed, every characteristic in the human family can be considered a stereotype and every piece of art whether in film, music, or literature expresses a particular stereotype. The ignorantly optimistic Walt Disney was not aware of the negativity of some of the stereotypes in his film, but in producing it he embraced the African American South. He exposed the “innocent stereotypes” of the rich Negro culture and captured their priceless folktales.
Consider the alternative “politically correct” Song of the South. Disney would have created a film with purely white characters, which all measurably spoke proper English and held equal financial status. How absurd would it be to deprive African American culture of some key characteristics (and yes, a few incorrect characteristics) of their early identity? Walt Disney, in a lecture “On American Culture” (Watt, 1995, p. 101), related that culture comprised not just those fancies of the “elite,” such as highly recognizable and remembered operas and paintings. He commented on the necessity of free choice and that “culture belonged ‘equally to all of us’” (Watt, 1995, p. 102). He said “a person’s culture represents his appraisal of the things that make up life” (Watt, 199, p. 102). In Disney’s mind, culture sprang from all people and, correspondingly, all people have free access to it.
Unfortunately today, there are still social rifts among people of differing races. Brer Rabbit, a toon, provided the ideal medium where two races could unite and provide and atmosphere of equality and toleration. His adventurous experiences were heard and felt by all in the movie. In the end, Johnny and his two friends (one black and the other white) hold hands and dance up onto a hill. Suddenly Brer Rabbit appears, jumping out of the cartoon world and into the real world. All the diversified entities seen in the film—black, white, rich, poor, and toon—finally come together in a symbolism of deleted racial boundaries. One commentator from the African American-produced Pittsburgh Courier said, “The truly sympathetic handling of the entire production from a racial standpoint is calculated… to prove of inestimable good in the furthering of interracial relations” (Brode, 2005, p. 54).
Floyd Norman, an black animator for Disney, now chuckles about the racial prejudice he felt in the 50’s in California. He drove a long commute from his residence in LA to the Disney Studio in Burbank because it was “nearly impossible for a person of color to rent an apartment in Burbank” (Norman, 2007, ¶4). Despite these injustices, Norman uses racial prejudice as a form of humor in his work. As said earlier, it is a danger to under-analyze a children’s film, but equally dangerous to over-analyze one. May we be well-informed of racial stereotypes but, like Norman, may we move forward and laugh off the blunders of the past. Brer Rabbit often overcame his woeful trials by imagining a visit to his imaginary “Laughing Place.” Song of the South did display forms of racial stereotypes; however, the film cannot be dismissed as innovative, artistic, and delightfully optimistic.
Please sign the petition to have Song of the South released!
References
- Brode, D. (2005). Multiculturalism and the mouse: Race and sex in Disney entertainment. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Retrieved March 23, 2007, from http://books.google.com
Brode provides a positive few of the existence of race and sex in Disney media. His stance is widely different from the rest of the scholarly world which presumably attacks Disney for racial slurs and stereotypes. Brode shows how Disney has made America more diversified and tolerant. This is a great source to show the opposing side of the thesis. - Cohen. K. F., (2004). Forbidden animation: Censored cartoons and blacklisted animators in America. Jefferson, NC:McFarland & Company. Retrieved April 2, 2007, from http://books.google.com.
This book takes an extensive look at the production, playing and critiquing of Song of the South. It helps to see what was going on behind the scenes while the film was being developed and shot. We can learn from this book, more of the mind of Disney. - Mandle, J. R. (1992). Not slave, not free: African American economic experience since the Civil War. (pp. 21-22). Durham, NC:Duke University Press. Retrieved April 6, 2007, from http://books.google.com.
Mandle gives some general information of the aftermath of the Civil War. It is a great historical background to the day the movie was set, thus helping me to understand a little of the surroundings that could have showed up in the film. - Miller, S., & Rode, G. (1995). “The movie you see, the movie you don’t: How Disney do’s that old time derision. In E. Bell, L. Haas, & L. Sells (Eds.), From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture. (pp. 86-106). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Retrieved March 23, 2007, from http://books.google.com
Miller and Rode delve into the racial imagery of many Disney films. They speak somewhat objectively, giving decent information and points of view from other scholars. This paper helps to see the real negative side of Song of the South. - Norman, F. (2007). Now in full color: A cartoonish take on black history. Retrieved April 1, 2007, from http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/floyd_norman/print/8361.aspx.
Norman gives a great rhetorically sound article on racism in Disney. The most interesting fact about the article is Norman’s ethos—he is black and he used to be a Disney animator. It is helpful to see his perspective. - Songofthesouth.net (2007). Song of the south script. Retrieved April 6, 2007, from songofthesouth.net.
This website is completely pro biased towards Song of the South. It is loaded with information, graphics, and the original script to the film. It also contains a petition now with over 100,000 signatures of those who would like Song of the South to be released on video. - Watts, S. (1995). Walt Disney: Art and politics in the American century. The Journal of American History, 82(1), 84-110. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from JSTOR database.
Watts portrays Disney as a man of both vice and virtue. The article makes connections to Disney and basic American ideals. - WDWMagic.com. (no date). 100 Years of Magic – Walt Disney Quotes. Retrieved April 1, 2007, from http://www.wdwmagic.com/100years_waltquotes.htm
This site is filled with general information about Walt Disney. It’s most helpful aspect is its database of quotes by Walt Disney. These quotes contain great insight into the real man, Disney.
Conservative executives at Fox need to understand real facets of humor before they can produce another conservative spinoff of “The Daily Show.” This paper will show the subtle differences between Fox’s The ½ Hour News Hour and NBC’s The Daily Show that may help to explain rating points between the different programming.
The ½ Hour News Hour makes frequent stabs at humor and fails to really hit the target. One of the main attributes of the program is it’s blatant political message. For example, two episodes feature skits about Gun laws. The first episode begins with an interview of a complete gun-ban supporter. Throughout the interview, we find out that the interviewee is actually an avid criminal who was “randomly” shot by an old lady being mugged (mugged by the interviewee), a homeowner being robbed (robbed by the interviewee), and a police officer. In the end, we “get the message” all too easily that gun violence is caused by definite criminals and not by innocent gun owners.
The second episode shows an infomercial skit about a new system of dealing with gun violence without purchasing a gun. Consumers are shown purchasing and putting up signs which read “gun-free zone.” We then see subsequent skits in which a man with a shot gun attempts to rob a convenience store only to realize that the store is a “gun-free zone.” Dejectedly, he withdraws his robbery attempt. Both of these attempts at humor are so blatant with political messaging that the moderate voter will most likely change the channel after being told what to think.
Jon Stewart, from The Daily Show, carries a liberal political agenda, but his messaging is much more subtle and sophisticated. In one episode he makes Fox News look like the “New Liberals” based on criteria from quotes made by conservative talk show hosts and guests. He shows how conservatives support the passionate town hall protestors discussing the health care reform. He then juxtaposes those statements with earlier statements by Fox’s News anchors: “…Many protestors are simply loons.” Throughout the entire skit, he continues to show cut scenes from fox news programming and juxtaposing those statements with earlier ideas thus showing a complexity in his humor that Fox was not able to achieve.
The style of The ½ Hour News Hour signifies an evening on Saturday Night Live with its over-exaggerated skits rather than a more sophisticated parody on news programming. Furthermore, rather than helping the audience to form a relationship with the mock anchor, we are frequented with skit interviews. NBC’s The Colbert Report helps us really get to know, and like the anchor, Stephen Colbert, with his brilliant improvisation.
Furthermore, The Daily Show doesn’t always force liberal opinions in every episode. Rather, the show frequently attacks multiple ideas. Weinman said, “It’s hard to be an effective comedian while being an advocate for a party, any party.” Underneath the humor, The Daily Show, ultimately, seeks to be funny while adding bits of liberalism. Conversely, the ½ Hour News Hour makes its first priority in pushing a conservative agenda while trying (but failing) to be funny.
Fox was trying to copy NBC’s news parody success by only looking at the service of the shows. Unfortunately, they failed to see the successful and subtle methodologies and connotations embodied in the humor and thus failed to give conservative news to a young, entertainment-seeking audience.
Indeed, Reality TV has changed the face of television, literally. How have these low-budget programs garnered so many viewers? To effectively discuss this question we need to understand the cultural/historical background of our RTV-watching Americans.
Andrew Carnegie's life embodied the American Dream. He amassed millions in the steel industry and spent the rest of his life in philanthropy.
American Dream and Capitalism
Young American children are raised in a capitalist-conscious economy. They are told that if they work hard (and smart), they can accumulate the kind of wealth of billionaires like Andrew Carnegie, Bill Gates, and Sergey Brin. The American public education system teaches youngsters through its use of grades that education—and life is a competition, in which only the best win.
Naturally, the capitalistic method is the principal theme of a RTV show. Francine Prose states that RTV summarizes the “vision of a zero-sum society in which no one can win unless someone else loses….”
RTV, a product of a capitalist-driven economy, appeals to all who fight in the trenches of capitalism, be it the office or the classroom.
Gladiator Syndrome
Adam and CT duke it out in "The Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Duel 2." Contestants are chosen based on clashing personalities.
Inherent in human behavior, as noted historically, is the obsession with watching competitions. From the coliseum’s gladiators to NFL’s Super Bowl, humans have typically enjoyed a good battle. We often pick a side and triumph or despair depending on how our team does. And just as well, RTV picks up this same trend. Often I hear conversations among friends and coworkers about certain affinities towards particular contestants in the latest RTVs. Because everyone has his or her favorite contestant (I did when David Archuleta competed in American Idol), everyone must watch the latest episode to find out if his or her contestant will make it to the next round.
Furthermore, the fact that RTV is, in fact, “real,” makes the game that much more interesting. Prose said “observing [the contestant’s] response to stress and humiliation generates a gladiatorial, bread-and-circus atmosphere that simply does not exist when we see movie stars in scrubs sail a gurney down the halls of ER.”
Of those I interviewed, RTV was taken as both appealing and appalling. They were drawn to RTV because of its ability to make a prince from a pauper (as in American Idol, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, etc.) which appeal to the American dream. Furthermore, many enjoy RTV because of its riveting competiveness. Viewers of RTV are stilled appalled at the levels of corruption displayed by contestants—who sometimes act on the basest human instincts of “natural selection.” However, RTV shows still increase in numbers every year.
Before writing this essay, I facebooked and tweeted a few coworkers and friends to learn of their favorite Reality TV shows. What are your favorite Reality TV shows?
Thanks to @shuey03, @robynstorms, @sudophp, @lmgilson, @Tiana_Lei, and @thymas11.
Note (1/21/10): I created some new ads and wrote a post about a new REI campaign, “Rethink Living.”
Disclaimer: I still don’t quite understand semiotics with its use of signs and how I can connect that to a retail catalog/website. I do understand that meaning is gathered by context and relationships rather than pure denotation.
REI’s predominantly retail website caters to the outdoor, rugged, and still modern adventurer. Below are a few details that define REI’s prime customer and show relationships between REI’s persona and current cultural beliefs.
Design
REI.com has made a careful use of colors and basic design principles. The website displays a minimalist design made apparent by the use of the following:
- White is dominant in the color palette.
- Diagonal lines are excluded from the design.
- Fonts are simple and consistent.
- The website consists of 2 or 3 column layouts.
REI.com also exhibits a modern approach with bright, clear cut images and extensive navigation menu. Additionally, REI brands itself with black and green (homepage).
Copy
REI’s copy seeks to highlight independence in day to day living through extreme to moderate “adventures”:
- “Whether it’s the end of a top-rope or an alpine summit, REI has the gear to help you reach it.”
- “Get outdoors with tents, packs….”
- “The snow’s ready, are you?”
- “Explore your world on a bike from REI!”
- “Get outside with adventure-ready women’s hiking and travel clothing….”
Analysis
Culturally, Americans are increasingly spending time indoors. They are inundated with media advertising on every possible piece of communication technology available. Perhaps REI speaks to the “fed up” individual who is bored or exhausted by “The Office” environment. The opportunity for independence is a promising motivation for customers.
REI.com isn’t just a place for the outdoor consumer to get his/her gear, but rather a place that helps to define the customer—to validate the customer’s beliefs and further persuade him/her to become something more. Its retail website ratifies the customer’s need to feel sophisticated (by being minimalistic and modern) but also the independence seeker.
Many marketers have reverted from studying traditional market research to studying a perceived mathematical formula in order to attract customers. Understanding PageRank[1], the algorithm Google patented in 2001[2], is the golden ticket in internet marketing. In this article, we’ll discuss how the algorithm works and how it has changed marketing.
Google and Marketing?
Google holds 80 percent of the US search market share and 90 percent globally.[3] Millions of searches are made per day at Google.com, the most visited website on the internet. Google founders and Stanford dropouts, Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page, probably didn’t realize that their algorithm change the face of marketing. Marketers who can get their company’s websites listed on the first page of Google can often double, triple, or quadruple sales.
How Does it Work?
Although more than 200 factors contribute to Google’s algorithm, it was originally designed with two distinguishing components: (1) page ranking and (2) anchor text.[4]
Page Ranking
Google ranks a web page based on how many inbound links (also called backlinks) from other websites are linking to that page. Each link may be considered one vote, according to Google. Google then innovated further by placing a specific weight on each vote. Sites with more links receive higher rank. In turn, links from these higher ranking sites receive more weight.
To illustrate page ranking, analyze the number of links from two large websites, CNN.com and Walmart.com. Walmart.com has 3,380 backlinks and CNN.com has 46,600 backlinks. A link from CNN.com would be worth more than a link from Walmart.com.
Anchor Text
Anchor text are the words actually being linked. If a link were placed in this article to Bing.com (Microsoft’s search engine), it might look like the following: Visit another search engine. In this case, http://www.bing.com is the link while “search engine” is the anchor text. Google assigns relevancy of the websites in its search results based on the anchor text of those websites’ backlinks. Should the above example be an actual link, a search for “search engine” should be more likely to return Bing.com in the results.
What Does this Mean to Marketers?
Marketers who understand page ranking and anchor text can build traffic to their companies’ websites by employing numerous methods of link building and using keyword-targeted anchor text.
Continual Research
However, the buck doesn’t stop with proper link building and anchor text. Because spam is always trying to get into Google’s search results,[5] Google engineers must constantly update the algorithm.[6] Thus, internet marketing always requires continuous research and testing.
[1] Wikipedia, “PageRank,”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank
[2] Lawrence Page, “Method for node ranking in a linked database,” Google Patent,
http://www.google.com/patents?id=cJUIAAAAEBAJ&zoom=4&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q=&f=false
[3] Reuters, “CORRECTING and REPLACING: Bing US Market Share Stabilises but Yahoo! Continues Fall – StatCounter,”
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS151362+02-Nov-2009+BW20091102
[4] Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page, “The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine,” Stanford University,
http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html
[5] Zolt Gyöngyi and Hector Garcia-Molina, “Spam: It’s Not Just for Inboxes Anymore,” Computer, vol. 38, no. 10, pp. 28-34, Oct. 2005, doi:10.1109/MC.2005.352
[6] Matt Cutts, “Explaining algorithm updates and data refreshes,”
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/explaining-algorithm-updates-and-data-refreshes/
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